Under current Social Welfare law, you must satisfy the following two conditions to qualify for payment of Illness Benefit:

(1) you must have at least 104 weeks of PRSI contributions paid since you first started work.

AND EITHER (2a) OR (2b)

(2a) 39 weeks of PRSI contributions paid or credited in the relevant tax year, of which 13 must be paid contributions. If you do not have 13 paid contributions in the relevant tax year, then 13 paid in one of the following tax years can be used instead:

either of the two tax years before the relevant tax year,

or the last complete tax year (before the year in which your claim for Illness Benefit begins),

or the current tax year.

OR

(2b) 26 weeks of PRSI contributions paid in the relevant tax year, and26 weeks of PRSI contributions paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year.

The relevant tax year is the second last complete tax year before the year in which your claim for Illness Benefit begins.

If you were getting long-term Jobseeker's Allowance, Pre-Retirement Allowance, Invalidity Pension, Carer's Allowance or Carer's Benefit, immediately before applying for Illness Benefit, you do not need to have the 13 paid contributions referred to in part (2a) of section 3 (see above).

If you were getting Occupational Injury Benefit (OIB) immediately before applying for Illness Benefit you may use the tax year that applied to your OIB claim or the tax year that applies to your Illness Benefit claim, whichever is more beneficial.

If you have been discharged from the Permanent Defence Forces you may claim Illness Benefit, provided you are unable to work due to illness and you have been certified as unfit for work by your own medical adviser. You must send in your discharge papers with your claim.